The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, abbreviated Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, including Henry Cavendish and its first president, George Finch. Its foundational principles were diffusing the knowledge of, and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, as well as enhancing the application of science to the common purposes of life (including through teaching, courses of philosophical lectures, and experiments).
Much of the Institution's initial funding and the initial proposal for its founding were given by the Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor, under the guidance of philanthropist Sir Thomas Bernard and American-born British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Since its founding it has been based at 21 Albemarle Street in Mayfair. Its Royal Charter was granted in 1800.
History The Royal Institution was founded as the result of a proposal by Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) for the "formation by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, of a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for the teaching by courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life". Rumford's proposal led to a 7 March 1799 meeting at the house of Joseph Banks, then president of the Royal Society, a similar but much older learned society. A follow-up meeting on 9 March saw the first meeting of the managers of the Institution. In June of that year, the society elected George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea as its first president, and in July it purchased the 21 Albemarle Street, Mayfair building that has served as its home ever since. Renovations began immediately on the building to provide appropriate meeting, office, and laboratory space for the Institution's mission. The first Professor and Public Lecturer in Experimental Philosophy, Mechanics and Chemistry was Dr Thomas Garnett, whom Rumford poached from the newly founded Andersonian Institute in Glasgow in October 1799. The steep-sided main lecture hall that has become the building's most publicly visible feature, as the home of its Christmas lectures, was completed in 1800, the same year that the institution received its royal charter from George III. The lecture hall was put to use immediately; the first lecture given in it was by Garnett in March 1800.
Throughout its history, the Institution has supported public engagement with science through a programme of lectures, many of which continue today. The most famous of these were both founded in 1825: the annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and the Friday Evening Discourses. Despite Garnett's first lectures being a great success, his salary was frozen, he was not allowed to practise as a doctor, and Humphry Davy was appointed as his assistant, so he resigned. Humphry Davy was an even greater success, as was his assistant and successor Michael Faraday. Davy's immediate successor was William Thomas Brande. Thus the Institution has had an instrumental role in the advancement of science since its founding. Notable scientists who have worked there include Sir Humphry Davy (who discovered sodium and potassium), Michael Faraday, James Dewar, Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg (winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on x-ray diffraction), Max Perutz, John Kendrew, Antony Hewish, and George Porter. In the 19th century, Faraday at the Royal Institution carried out much of the research which laid the groundwork for the practical exploitation of electricity. In total fifteen scientists attached to the Royal Institution have won Nobel Prizes. Ten chemical elements including sodium were discovered there; the electric generator was devised at the Institution, and much of the early work on the atomic structure of crystals was carried out within it. The Royal Institution was founded during the age of slavery, and one of its major supporters was John Fuller, whose fortune derived from two Jamaican plantations. Fuller contributed more than £10,000 to the institution, including endowing two professorships; Michael Faraday was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry. In contemporary times, use of the Fullerian title has been discontinued, and the two chairs will no longer be filled.
Nobel laureates
Chemical elements discovered or isolated
Past presidents
Past directors
The leadership of the Royal Institution has had various titles:
Director of the Laboratory Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory Director The position was abolished in 2010, with the firing of Susan Greenfield. The position was restored in April 2017 with the appointment of Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford. Harper resigned in September 2017. The present director is Katherine Mathieson.
Andrade controversy In 1952, Edward Andrade was forced to resign following a complicated controversy over the management of the Royal Institution and his powers as director, involving a power struggle with Alexander Rankine who was secretary. Following various resignations and general meetings of members, Andrade was awarded £7,000 by arbitration: the arbitrators blamed the problems on "a lack of clear definition of roles ... an outdated constitution, and the inability of the protagonists to compromise". Andrade launched a lawsuit to set the arbitration aside, which he lost.
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